June 30, 2012

Albemarle’s Planning Commission is working to improve the way the county can best provide affordable living choices to its residents.

The commission’s recommendations will be reviewed by the Board of Supervisors later this year as it considers changes to the 2005 Affordable Housing Policy and whether to make it part of the updated Comprehensive Plan.

Ron White, Chief of Housing, Albemarle County

Current policy sets expectations for the development community as to the affordable housing support its members will need to include in a rezoning request. At a minimum, Albemarle expects 15 percent of new homes to be deemed affordable or for the developer to provide an equivalent cash contribution.

“It’s pretty much the developer’s decision,” said Wayne Cilimberg, Albemarle’s director of planning. “They craft the proffers based around what they interpret the policy to be and, in discussions with staff, what we’ve indicated what we could look at.”

Proffers are the voluntary contributions made by a developer to mitigate project impacts and to help gain the support of local officials for a rezoning request. They may include cash, open space, transportation improvements, school sites, but always some contributions toward affordable housing.

Albemarle’s housing director, Ron White, told the commission at a work session earlier this week that recent cash proffers for affordable housing have been used either as down-payment assistance or to repair existing affordable housing units. Since the policy was approved, $476,809 has been received and of that amount, $411,385 has been invested for those purposes.

“If you want to look at a comprehensive affordable housing goal, it’s not just creating new units, but also, in some way, maintaining the existing stock,” White said.

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A rendering of how Lochlyn Hill will look (Source: Milestone Development)

Three of the four commissioners present at public hearing Tuesday said they could not recommend approval because Milestone Development’s project did not comply with the city’s affordable housing guidelines.

“Staff believes that the current application comprises many great things that we want to see in a [planned unit development] application, but there are still holes,” said city planner Michael Smith.

Smith said the rezoning would be consistent with the city’s Comprehensive Plan but that Milestone has not guaranteed that 15 percent of the homes will be designated as affordable.

Instead, Milestone has proposed that at least 15 percent of the homes be in the form of accessory dwelling units. These are smaller units in cottages, above garages and in basements.

“This is a pilot project to work out some of the kinks but we hope this is the first of many Habitat and land trust partnerships,” said Dan Rosensweig, Habitat’s executive director, at a Tuesday groundbreaking ceremony.

“This is the beginning of a new type of sustainable, affordable housing,” said Frazier Bell, chair of the land trust. “We are looking forward to many more sustainable, affordable housing units in the area and to working with Habitat.”

The partnership, which has been in the works for several years, combines the two organizations’ methods to achieve one common goal — provide affordable housing.

Habitat creates affordable housing through volunteer work. The TJCLT, a nonprofit formed in 2008, provides affordable housing by purchasing land and then leasing it to homeowners for a nominal fee. This allows the owners to only purchase the building, lowering the cost of homeownership.

“The beauty of this is that it is an effective mechanism to maintain affordable housing, especially in a place like Charlottesville,” said Robert J. Adams, a staff member of the land trust.

The collaboration ensures that by separating the price of the land from the price of the house, the property will remain affordable into the future. Because real estate prices tend to increase, the land trust’s lease will last for 90 years, stabilizing the price and ensuring the affordability of these homes for generations.

“In the year 2100, we can come back to this property and it is still going to be affordable,” said Melissa Thaxton, grants coordinator in the city’s neighborhood development services office.

Each Friday from 4-5 PM, tune in to hear area journalists and guests discuss local news, culture, and community issues in the Charlottesville area. Whether we're talking about city politics, scientific innovations, or the local music scene, you'll get to hear in-depth discussion about stories that matter.

Each Friday from 4-5 PM, tune in to hear area journalists and guests discuss local news, culture, and community issues in the Charlottesville area. Whether we're talking about city politics, scientific innovations, or the local music scene, you'll get to hear in-depth discussion about stories that matter.

“The underlying idea [of the festival] is that Charlottesville is a creative hub among many different disciplines,” said Tom Tom co-founder Paul Beyer, making introductions to a gathering of almost 30 people.

“Specifically with this series, we want to highlight innovation,” added co-founder Oliver Platts-Mills. “Place-based innovation is highly influenced by the place itself, Charlottesville.”

Over the past year, several workshops have been held to provide opportunities for the public to interact with staff and elected and appointed officials on topics ranging from transportation, land use policy and affordable housing.

Over 300 people participated in the workshops and more than 700 comments have been received online.

“A lot of the comments focused on affordable housing and the need to increase affordable housing in the community, both in the city and the county,” said Mandy Burbage, a planner with the TJPDC. “There was interest in ordinances supportive of affordable housing and a review process that made it easier for developers to create it.”

At issue was River Bend’s desire to pay a cash proffer of $754,000 towards capital improvement projects, an amount that assumes a certain level of affordable housing.

“That’s based on an amount that reflects a deduction for 10 affordable housing units being built,” said David Benish, the county’s chief of planning. “That [number] is reflective of the 15 percent required under the [county’s] affordable housing policy.”

However, River Bend has not decided yet whether to designate those units as affordable.

“I would love to build those affordable units, but we’re not the company who will be building the houses,” said Alan Taylor, River Bend’s vice president.

Instead, the company plans to prepare the lots and turn them over to a builder.

February 16, 2012

A University of Virginia architecture professor who specializes in modular housing briefed the James River Green Building Council Tuesday on his work to bring down the cost of constructing energy efficient homes.

“The people who are at the lower end of the income level are the ones who need the most help in reducing their energy inefficiency, and yet they are also the ones who can least afford the services,” said John Quale, director of the ecoMOD research project.

Since 2004, ecoMOD has partnered with affordable housing organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and the Piedmont Housing Alliance to show that environmental awareness in construction and renovation does not need to be limited to high-end remodels and expensive new developments. Quale said each experience has translated into new insights for both ecoMOD and its partners.

Their collaborations have resulted in the construction of a single-family home on Elliott Avenue, renovations to historic homes on Ridge and 5th streets and a two-unit condominium in Fifeville, as well as projects in Mississippi and Jamaica.